Reflections on the Teche

Slice of Life Day 27: Finding Pinky

March 27, 2025 by margaretsmn

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

I have been reading aloud Kate DiCamillo’s new book Ferris. I’m a huge fan of Kate’s books. I stood in a long line to get a copy signed by her at the Mississippi Book Festival in the fall.

I’m reading the book to my combination 5th and 6th grade gifted class. Two of my girls got together and decided to create a sort of classroom game.

First Kailyn drew a poster of Pinky, Ferris’s crazy younger sister.

Marifaye made a wanted poster.

Together they made “aura” bucks.

They put me in charge of hiding her.

There is a list of rules, of course.

So far this game has been going on for two days. They’ve had to make a new rule that if you find Pinky, you can’t tell anyone (or even make gestures).

Today I put her in between books on the shelf.

So far no harm has come from this game and most of my students are playing along.

I don’t think I could have single-handedly come up with a better plan for engaging my class in a read aloud. I highly recommend Ferris. The basic theme that repeats throughout is “every good story is a love story.” With a sprinkle of Kate DiCamillo magic, my students are falling in love with this book.

Posted in Books, Slice of Life, Teaching | Tagged Kate DiCamillo, read aloud, student engagement | 10 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 26: This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Cat in the Window

March 26, 2025 by margaretsmn

Cat in the Window, Kilcullen, Ireland by Jone MacCulloch

When I choose a photo to feature as a poem prompt, I choose what pleases me. Sometimes it’s a picture I’ve taken during the week, but this week it’s a photo that caught my eye on an Instagram post from Jone MacCulloch. I asked her if I could use it this week, and she sent me the photo and the collage she had made with it.

Jone wrote, “The piece you like is a mixed media piece. I have been playing with landscape scene. This was a cat in Kilcullin, Ireland, 2022. This has some pieces of my grandmother’s journal(copied). It’s part of a new exhibit in April.” Congratulations to Jone on her upcoming exhibit.

I love how blogging has opened windows and doors for me to creative people. Jone and I have not met in person, but we’ve been on multiple Zoom meetings together. We’ve had conversations through blogging and email. She featured this same photo on her blog for “Wordless Wednesday.” But I think the photo invites words.

Please join me in the comments by writing a small poem today inspired by Jone’s photo or art collage. Encourage other writers with comments.

“A cat’s eyes are windows enabling us to see into another world.” Irish proverb

Behind a lace curtain
on a warm windowsill,
a nonchalant cat
holds a light
until her people
come home.

Posted in Blogging, Photography, Slice of Life, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Travel, Writing | Tagged #poemsofpresence, #smallpoems, Irish proverb, Jone MacCulloch, This Photo Wants to be a Poem | 28 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 25: Dog Walk Pantoum

March 25, 2025 by margaretsmn

A few weeks ago I attended a writing workshop with one of my mentors Darrell Bourque, former poet laureate of the state of Louisiana. He asked us to look at common language to explore in a poem form. He suggested a pantoum. I wrote one there, but there were parts that didn’t work for me, some rhymes that seemed forced. Was my heart in it? I knew what I wanted to say. Sometimes a form is the just right thing to contain all that your poem wants to say.

This workshop, Darrell’s gentle guidance, have stayed with me. Last week I copied into my Notes app a billboard catch phrase, “I triple-dog-dare you.”

Yesterday I read Fran Haley’s post, a beautiful pantoum about a rainbow. I looked up the form again and took another shot. This one satisfies me.

On Sunday I texted my neighbor to go for a walk with our doodle dogs. Her husband passed away last Sunday. I didn’t know if she would be up for it, so I was pleased when she agreed to go. Even though she thanked me profusely for reaching out, I felt it was my honor to be with her. Grief can be a weird time, and we are often not sure of the “right” thing to do to help someone through it. The dog walk was the right thing for both of us.

Dog Walk Pantoum

Split in a million heart pieces,
I triple-dog-dare you to go.
We walk our dogs on their leashes
connecting puzzle pieces as we go.

I triple-dog-dare you to go
to the place where grief hides in shadows.
Connecting our puzzle pieces as we go.
Comfort in our walk-talk grows.

The place where grief hides in shadows;
Listen close to the sound of the wind.
Comfort in our walk-talk grows.
Each of us finds a good friend.

Listen close to the sound of the wind
chimes, like a million heart pieces.
Each of us finds a good friend.
We walk our dogs on their leashes.

Margaret Simon, draft

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing | Tagged Darrell Bourque, Fran Haley, friendship, pantoum | 9 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 24: Stones for Stella

March 24, 2025 by margaretsmn

Maggie told me that Stella had found a crystal buried in their yard and brought it into her room.

“Ever since she’s been a little crazy.”

Stella turned four. What four year old isn’t a little bit crazy, with energy enough for whining and staying up past her bedtime?

My friends, Stephanie and Carolyn are interested in the healing power of stones. Stephanie brought me rose quartz and blue agate. “These are for Stella.” The idea is for Stella to put back the crystal she dug up, but knowing Stella as I do, these new ones will be added to a collection.

I looked up their meanings. Blue agate is said to bring calmness and emotional balance. The blue agate is the perfect size for Stella’s small hand. Over Facetime, she told me she loved the blue one.

The other is rose quartz which symbolizes everlasting love. Of course, lovely.

Carolyn said, “If I could be a stone, I’d be malachite.”

I listened and her words became a poem:

If I could be a stone,
I’d be malachite:
Rich, green, deep dark green,
swirls of frequency
from the depths of transition
before I was brought forth to the earth.
I’d be a strong stone.

If you could be a stone, what stone would you be?

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged healing stones, malachite | 7 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 23: Farmer’s Market Day

March 23, 2025 by margaretsmn

Meet me at the farmer’s market.

The Cajun jammers will be there.

Strawberries full of red, juicy flavor.

Tall trees for holding a sculpture.

Playground for spinning.

Everybody brings their dogs.

We are all welcome at the farmer’s market.

Meet me at the farmer’s market.

Posted in Writing | 9 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 22: Yoda Wisdom

March 22, 2025 by margaretsmn

As the 3 year anniversary of my father’s death approaches, I’m in a different place. A space of love and acceptance, appreciation rather than deep loss. Grief takes time. It changes but never fully leaves you.

For some reason that I can’t ask him, my father had a little plastic Yoda on the shelf in his bathroom. It was obviously something he wanted to see every day. I took it home with me and it lives in my closet alongside my mother’s jewelry box. I wrote a poem about it.

Wisdom of Small Things

I’m a collector of small things:
A miniature Yoda from my father’s
bathroom shelf reminds me,
“Do or do not. There is no try. “

Try as I might to let Dad go,
I still want him here
to guide me.

My father once told me
I could only do what I could do.
I remind myself everyday
to leave my students’ problems
at school.

Little Yoda,
help me lean on your wisdom.

Margaret Simon, draft

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged father, small things, wisdom, Yoda | 7 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 21: Poetry Friday: The Way to Breathe

March 21, 2025 by margaretsmn

EnneaThought® for the Day

Type Four EnneaThought®

“Are you still yearning for your ideal life? Appreciate the small daily pleasures, kind words, and heartfelt exchanges that are already present. You’re already more appreciated than you may think.”

I am a type four on the Enneagram. I’m the one who cries, who ponders over the past, and who turns to romanticism. Daily the message for me is to be present. Be still and know…

Recently I have felt rushed and busy. I try to take some time or myself in walks and in writing time. What space can I give to just being in the moment? How can I slow down to breathe and be present?

In poetry, I find a place to be present. When I write with specificity and imagery, I feel present. I also like the comfort of anaphora, a phrase that leads to a new thought. This poem I wrote in response to a prompt on Ethical ELA here from Sarah Donovan. She used the mentor poem “A Place to Breathe” by Christine Hartman Derr from a free Ethical ELA anthology Just YA.

There’s a Way to Breathe Today

It’s the way the sun
dapples the oak tree
with a halo of light.

It’s the way the cypress
needles pop out like
green leprechauns.

It’s the way a bayou
runs through and around
a town of ancestry.

It’s the way I sit
at my table with coffee
and a pen.
Margaret Simon, draft

I hope you find a little corner to breathe in today. Find stillness. Find peace. Write about it.

Don’t forget to sign up for a place in the Kidlit Progressive Poem.

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Rose Capelli at Imagine the Possibilities.

Posted in nature, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged #poemsofpresence, Bayou Teche, Ethical ELA, Just YA | 19 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 20: 1,000 Words

March 20, 2025 by margaretsmn

How many words do you write in a blog post? Have you ever counted?

My students write on a blog site, Fanschool. (Some are doing the daily Classroom Slice of Life Challenge.) One of the cool features on Fanschool is the word count. I usually tell my students that 200-300 words are the best for blog posts. I use word count to encourage my young ones to elaborate on their topics. I also tell them that no one really wants to read more than 300 or so words at one time. Without my priming them, students will sometimes get competitive with themselves and others over word count. I’ve learned that while word count doesn’t really matter, it is something I can leverage if I need to. “Let’s set a goal for at least 100 words today.”

Chance didn’t need a word count limit or a competition; he was ready to pour out his heart and soul on the blog in the first quarter he landed in my class. He had things he wanted to share. At 4th grade, he’s not real adept at punctuating complex sentences, but when he writes, words flow. I was thinking of him when I wrote this poem.

The Space He Needed

On the blog space,
he wrote
and wrote.
I asked him “What are you writing?”
He said, “1000 words about my brothers.”

So many words, like a dam had been opened
to his life, his words.

A space to write
away from the constraints
of a paragraph about the Declaration
of Independence. The blog
opened his independence,
his need to tell the world
all he had been through.

For ten long years, he held
inside who he was, all his secrets,
waiting for this space
to declare his freedom.
Margaret Simon, draft

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing | Tagged education, free verse poem, school, students, teaching, writing | 6 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 19: This Photo Wants to be a Garden

March 19, 2025 by margaretsmn

Each week I find a photo to write about. This form of poetry is called ekphrastic poetry, verse written in response to art. I invite my students to write alongside me on Fanschool. I ask my blog visitors, too. No pressure. If you feel inspired, write a small poem in the comments. Encourage other writers by visiting Fanschool or responding to writers here.

The spring means time to ready the butterfly gardens. This year I have to put my butterfly plants in pots due to a puppy that likes to discover things by nosing, peeing, and chewing. Last night he was chewing and chewing. When I finally scraped his mouth, I found an electric wire. Yikes! That could have caused all kinds of damage.

My poem today is after Amy Ludwig VanDerwater from a new anthology of poems by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility. Each poem in the collection is an “If” poem. You can read Amy’s here on The Poem Farm.

If
after Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

If you could name a just right plant
for feeding pollinators this spring,
If milkweed, fennel, or parsley
are on your garden list,
swallowtails and monarchs, too,
may stop by this place for a day or two,
drop off an egg upon a leaf
to start a new life.

If you could name just one small plant,
and save it for the spring,
you’d plant a lifetime
once again
where butterflies can come
back home.

Posted in nature, Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged butterfly garden, ekphrasis, If poem | 11 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 18: Zooming with Kim

March 18, 2025 by margaretsmn

“How did we meet, Kim?”

She knew right away. “I first knew you from your writing,” she said. “We met face to face when I was in the elevator at NCTE with my boot on because I had a broken foot.”

It all flooded back to me. Anaheim, California. NCTE 2022. I had been writing beside Kim and others at Ethical ELA, and this was our first in-person conference since 2019. I remember when we gathered on and around a bench in the convention center to write together. I remember going to the Slicer dinner and Kim had hobbled her way there, but we insisted she get an Uber back to her hotel.

On the Zoom call, we did not talk about all of this. We were recording our session for the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival coming up in April in Hattiesburg, MS. The recording went well as we easily talked with each other about writing poetry, how writing with others can be validating, healing, and can lead to a connection with another person. Kim knows me better than many of my face to face friends because we write. Writing creates an intimate connection. It helps that we both have dogs and grandkids and live in the south. Kim’s Georgian accent makes me feel right at home.

While we were recording our session, we took the opportunity to share the Ethical ELA site. This is the week of the Open Write which happens for five days each month. Different community members offer a prompt. We opened up the webpage and scrolled to find Kim’s poem pretty close to my poem of the day. Another thing we share is we are early morning writers.

If you are looking for a safe place to write and share poetry, try Ethical ELA. At first it may seem intimidating, but, believe me, the community of writers is worth the risk. Today is the last day of Open Write and the prompt is from Katrina Morris, a Dictionary Poem. Join us?!

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged Ethical ELA, Fay B Kaigler Children's Book Festival, Kim Johnson | 5 Comments »

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